The Day I Got New Glasses

My old glasses were terrible. All I could see was myself, my face in a mirror, my arms and legs . I didn't like what I saw. I had faint glimpses of very desirable objects, like dream girls and motorcycles; but my visions of myself were sharp and clear and not very good at all.

I fell short. Physically I guess I was ok, but these were special glasses that could see more than that.

I had been reared in a church where there were two projects--self-improvement and the Current Church Project. We were to follow the Sermon on the Mount and the examples in the Parables for self-improvement. For church projects we were to give money.

There were a lot of meetings and Special Committees. Big plans were afoot. Some glorious day we would convert the whole world. Then everyone could be as good as we were. It would be hard to come up with an agenda more boring, or even hateful, to a young man.

I soon got out. I became, as the sports fans would say, a "free agent". I was looking for a team to sign on with. I even tried out for some. Although I could have signed on with some of them, they fell short of my needs. They had fatal flaws.

Back to my glasses. Someone was making new glasses for me, so that I could see things so much more clearly. I didn't know it at the time, of course.

I was browsing in a book store and looked at an illustration in a book. It showed a rather sinister picture of Nebuchadnezzar. I remember that the picture had a kind of yellow cast to it. Pretty grim. I remember thinking, "Who cares about such a thing as some ancient king?"

I replaced the book on the shelf, but the illustration stayed in my mind. My new glasses were starting to work. I had a glimpse of something in a religious book that was not about self-improvement! In fact, it was not about me at all.

Was this God's view of great kings and their kingdoms? I was starting to see something relating to God's point of view.

It is said that falling in love is the first time the young really get out of their self-absorbtion and love someone else. Well, this was ,for me, the early beginning of letting go of my me-centered upbringing and learning about God's perspective. He cared about the king of Babylon. Maybe I should, too?

Later I learned that Nebuchadnezzar became mad at the hand of God. He was later restored and realized how great God is. Nebuchadnezzar got a new set of glasses. I did too.